Uniqlo Co., Ltd.(株式会社ユニクロ,Kabushiki-gaisha yunikuro?) (pronounced "YOU-nee-klo" in English[1]) is a Japanese casual wear designer, manufacturer and retailer. The company has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. since November 2005.

In addition to in Japan, the company operates in fourteen other countries globally.

Since March 1949, a Yamaguchi-based company, Ogori Shōji (which, until then, had been operating men's clothing shops called "Men's Shop OS") existed in Ube, Yamaguchi.

In May 1984, they opened a unisex casual wear store in Fukuro-machi, Naka-ku, Hiroshima under the name "Unique Clothing Warehouse". It was at this time that the name "Uniqlo" was born, as a contraction of "unique clothing". In September 1991, the name of the company was changed from "Ogori Shōji" to "Fast Retailing", and by April 1994, there were over 100 Uniqlo stores operating throughout Japan.

In 1997, Fast Retailing adopted a set of strategies from American retailer The Gap, known as "SPA" (for specialty-store/retailer of private-label apparel), meaning that they would produce their own clothing and sell it exclusively. Uniqlo had begun outsourcing their clothing manufacturing to factories in China where labour was cheap, a well-established corporate practice. Japan was in the depths of a recession at the time, and the low-cost goods proved popular. Their advertising campaigns also proved fruitful.[2]

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In creating its clothing lines, Uniqlo embraces both shun and kino-bi. Shun means 'timing, best timing, but also at the same time it's a trend,' something that's updated and just in time, neither early nor late. The company offers clothing basics, but basics that are current, that respond to what's going on today in art and design. Kino-bi means function and beauty, joined together: the clothing is presented in an organized, rational manner, and that very organization and rationality creates an artistic pattern and rhythm. All these qualities reflect the defining characteristics of modern Japanese culture, modern 'Japaneseness.'

In November 1998, they opened their first urban Uniqlo store in Tokyo’s trendy Harajuku district, and outlets soon spread to major cities throughout Japan. In 2001, sales turnover and gross profit reached a new peak, with over 500 retail stores in Japan. When Uniqlo decided to expand overseas, it separated Uniqlo from the parent company,[1] and established Fast Retailing (Jiangsu) Apparel Co., Ltd. in China. In 2002 their first Chinese Uniqlo outlet was opened in Shanghai along with four overseas outlets in London, England.

But sales did not go well in England, and stocks in Japanese warehouses were overflowing. In 2002 and 2003, Uniqlo profits dropped sharply.[citation needed] In 2004, the company began joint ventures with Japanese fashion magazines, and hired such celebrities as Norika Fujiwara to appear in commercials. They teamed up with new designers, and profits rose, including at London outlets. The acquisition of other fashion companies by Fast Retailing also helped the struggling company get back on its feet.[citation needed]

2005 saw more overseas expansion, with stores opening in the United States (New York), Hong Kong (Tsim Sha Tsui) and South Korea (Seoul), their South Korean expansion being part of a joint venture with Lotte. As of year-end 2005, in addition to its overseas holdings, Uniqlo had around 700 stores within Japan.[citation needed] By 2006 sales were $4 billion.[1] By April 2007, the company had set a global sales goal of $10 billion and a ranking among the top five global retailers, joining what at the time was Gap, H&M, Inditex, and Limited Brands.[1]

Fast Retailing signed a design consulting contract for Uniqlo products with fashion designer Jil Sander in March 2009.[3]Shiatzy Chen has been approached by Uniqlo to produce a capsule collection of ready to wear pieces to launch in November 2010 while Asia's largest Uniqlo store outside Japan opened its doors in Kuala Lumpur in the same month.

On September 2, 2009, Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. announced that the company would target annual group sales of 5 trillion yen (about 61.2 billion US dollars) and pretax profit from operations of 1 trillion yen (about 12.2 billion US dollars) by 2020. This means that the company is aiming to become the world’s biggest Specialty retailer of Private label Apparel with a continuous growth rate of 20% per year. The figure breaks down as one trillion yen from Uniqlo’s Japan business, three trillion yen from its international business, and one trillion yen from "Japan-related and global brand business."[clarify] The company’s international business target breaks down as one trillion yen in China, one trillion in other Asian countries and one trillion in Europe and the United States.[4]

Their first store opened on 16 April 2014 at Emporium Melbourne, Melbourne CBD and their second store opened on 17 September 2014 at Chadstone Shopping Centre, Chadstone. In Sydney a third store opened on 16 October 2014 at Macquarie Centre, North Ryde and their fourth store opened on 13 November 2014 at Mid City Centre. A new store will open on 30th May 2015 at Westfield Miranda south of Sydney.[7]

In January 2015, Uniqlo announced that it plans to open two stores in Toronto in 2016, along with a goal of expanding to Vancouver soon after. The two locations will be at Toronto Eaton Centre and Yorkdale Mall.[8]

Uniqlo opened its first store in Indonesia at Lotte Shopping Avenue in 2013. [15] They currently have 8 stores in Indonesia mostly in the Jakarta and its surrounding area (Tangerang and Bekasi, with locations such as :

Entered the South Korea market in 2005. [16] In November 2011, Uniqlo generated more than 2 billion won ($1.7 million) in one day’s sales on November 11 when it opened Asia’s largest flagship store in central Seoul. The sales figure was the highest ever set by a fashion outlet in Korea.[17] 93 markets spreads around Korea in 2013.[18]

Katsumi Kubota, managing director of Uniqlo in the Philippines, says the brand plans to open at least 50 stores in the country by 2015 with 30 to 40 of those stores to be strategically located in Metro Manila.[25][26]

Uniqlo opened in Taipei on October 7, 2010, with the opening of the Hankyu department store, which was followed by rapid expansion throughout the island and the debut of a flagship store in 2011. As a part of an aggressive expansion strategy, Uniqlo has established storefronts in cities such as Kaohsiung, Tainan, Taichung, and Hsinchu.[30]

In 2005, Uniqlo launched in the US market by "quietly" opening three mall stores in New Jersey: Menlo Park, Rockaway Townsquare, and Freehold Raceway.[32] In November 2006, Uniqlo opened its first flagship store in the SoHo fashion district of Manhattan, New York City, where the retailer re-signed its current lease for an additional 10 years in August 2014.[33] New fashion designers joined the store's team to boost and rebirth fashion concepts catering to the U.S. market.[34] The opening of the Manhattan store was followed in September 2007 by the closing of Uniqlo's two New Jersey locations (Menlo is still open today), leaving the count of North American stores at two.[35] In October 2011, Uniqlo opened its second and third flagship locations on Fifth Avenue and 34th Street near Herald Square in New York City. On September 28, 2012 Uniqlo opened its largest mall store worldwide in the Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey, serving as the flagship for all of the future mall locations of the retailer.[36]

As part of Fast Retailing's 2020 plan the company has stated that it plans to generate $10 billion in annual sales in the United States from 200 stores, which will lead to a location in every major U.S. city. This goal was stated when the company's only U.S. presence was its handful of stores in the New York City area,[37] soon after the company began an aggressive expansion in the United States. In October 2012 the company expanded into the San Francisco market with the opening of its first West Coast flagship store on Powell Street in San Francisco's Union Square.[38] In January 2014, Uniqlo announced it would open an additional five new stores in the United States for the spring and summer of 2014, with further new locations being planned for the fall in the new markets of Boston, Philadelphia, and the Los Angeles/Southern California region.[39] In May 2014, the first store in the Philadelphia area opened at King of Prussia Mall.[40] While in September 2014, two stores located at the Glendale Galleria and the Northridge Fashion Center were opened, marking Uniqlo's entrance to the LA/Southern California market.[41] In the following month, Uniqlo opened its Southern California flagship location at the Beverly Center.[41] Uniqlo has also announced that it is planning its first foray into the Midwest with a flagship store on Chicago's Michigan Avenue.[42]Also, there will be an new Uniqlo outlet located at Los Cerritos Mall in the city of Cerritos, California. In April 2015, Uniqlo continued its expansion with the opening of its 39th store at the Jersey Gardens outlet mall in Elizabeth, New Jersey.[43]

Entered the English market in 2001.[44] There are currently 10 stores in the UK, 9 of which are located in Greater London. The remaining store is located at Bluewater, Kent, which is just outside Greater London.

In October 2012 Uniqlo has teamed up with French label Comptoir des Cotonniers to create a light down formula[45] jacket inspired by the iconic boxy-cut style fusing French fashion and Japanese technology. "We wanted to use an easy sophisticated shape perfect for all elements of a women's lifestyle." said Comptoir style director Delphine Ninous.[46]

A store concept called "UT Project", a futuristic convenience store for T-shirts, was launched on April 28, 2007 in Harajuku, Tokyo. Each T-shirt style is displayed on forms in stainless steel display cases, with individual T-shirts packaged in clear plastic canisters resembling tennis ball cans. The T-shirts are stored on open shelves, making the shopping experience virtually self-service.

Uniqlock, a web-based Flash widget as well as downloadable screensaver combination of Music-Dance-Clock, was launched on June 15, 2007. Season 1[47] features four girls auditioned from YouTube wearing Uniqlo's 20 color dry polo shirt, dancing freestyles similar to ballet, with background music composed by Fantastic Plastic Machine. Blog-parts were Flash components provided so that Uniqlock can be inserted into individual blog pages. Uniqlock soon gained popularity, as shown in its World Uniqlock page. Until November 2008 there were up to 191 million clicks from over 200 countries, with up to 40,000 blog-parts in 88 countries. Uniqlock Season 2,[48] launched in November 2007, featured Cashemere Knits, with the same dancers, dance style, as well background. The movie quality was improved, and dancers would appear to be asleep if the time in the specified region is nighttime. Also in each hour special clips would be shown instead; Season 2 features 2 men playing music, doing cleanup chores. In season 3[49] 20 color T-shirt promotion, 4 new dancers were introduced in addition to the original 4, switched by hour. On August 31, 2009, Season Six premiered in the new setting of Paris, France. The clock's time was also changed to display the time in Paris.

In 2010, Uniqlo partnered with Grameen Healthcare Trust in Bangladesh to promote social businesses. The social businesses are aimed to address issues of poverty, illiteracy and poor sanitation, by selling clothes that the poor can afford, with profits invested in these businesses. http://www.grameenuniqlo.com/bd/[50] Within three years, the goal of this initiative is to create 1,500 jobs and have a total of 1 million units of production and sales.[51]

The German fashion designer Jil Sander, appreciated for her minimalist aesthetic, joined Uniqlo in 2009, and was appointed creative director of the brand's menswear and womenswear - as well as launching a new label, +J collection, which won 2011 Brit Insurance Design Fashion Award. Sander sees a thrill in offering a utopian ideal of high-quality clothing to the masses. 'I like the concept of basic clothes in a democratic world,' she said. 'Uniqlo reminds me of Apple Computers; fantastic design for everyone. And I like what is Japanese about Uniqlo, a strong sense of tradition, the orderly approach to everything, great know-how and logistics.'[52]